Gabrielle's Incarnation Scene
The Reaping Chronicles ~ Inception
***
Gabrielle’s Incarnation Scene
A bright flash of lightning and crack of thunder sent the few remaining humans scrambling to gather their belongings from the beach as they tried to beat the downpour. Some people had been so eager to get out of the storm’s path — one that seemed particularly angry — that they abandoned some of their things.
Gabrielle scanned the various discarded items — bottles of lotion, trash, scattered towels, a beach ball, and an umbrella that was now tumbling away as if it was trying to outrun the wind. Gabrielle mused that the gusts were trying to push the people, and even her, out of the way and to safety. The storm was of no concern to her. Nothing that belonged in the human world could harm her. It was the beings who didn't belong among humans who could make her wary, but there were few of those who caused her to ponder them or their threat, either.
Gabrielle turned her attention away from the umbrella's dance into the distance, and back in the direction of the water in front of her. The intensity of the surging waves was growing steadily, and she stood with her feet just within reach of the fingers of water. They seemed to stretch to tickle her toes; enticing her with each break of waves against the sand to come in and play for a while. The sun that had given its warmth throughout the day was setting just ahead of the storm, and it reflected against the liquid horizon of the Gulf of Mexico. The fiery sky caused shades of red, orange, and yellow to mingle on the surface of its stirring waters, while the winds ahead of the storm roused the fabric of her long black dress, making it to whip her legs as if trying to urge her to hurry — to move on and take shelter before the storm unleashed its rage.
As terrible as this storm threatened to be, this wasn’t the one that she was concerned with. It wasn't a storm of rain and wind and lightning that she was here to outwit — or that she would, in fact, be in danger of losing her life because of. Gabrielle closed her eyes and tried to push the thoughts out of her mind with other things.
The new thoughts that rushed in to replace them were no better, and she found the calm she had found in her surroundings earlier had waned, replaced by a familiar ache as her mind wandered to memories of Javan. She had been lonely since he'd fallen, and she'd been on this beach many years ago. Only that day, she hadn't been enjoying it alone . . . she had been with him.
It was a time before humans settled the now overpopulated Florida coastline. A time before she lost the only love in Heaven she could ever have, when she didn't have the empty space inside her she did now that is constant, and as loud to her, as it is silent to others. Many times she'd heard a human say, ‘It’s better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.’ She’d argue that if it was the kind of love one angel had for another of their kind that it’s better to have simply never loved. An angel who has lost their companion will forever grieve them as if it just happened, without any chance of having another in their life to ease the sorrow. It didn’t make a difference if that loss was due to death, or if they had been cast out of the eternal home, the result was the same.
This visit to the beach was under vastly different circumstances. Not only was she alone and Javan now one of the Fallen, she was on a mission.
She closed her eyes, sensing the last warmth the sun’s rays would offer her face and bare arms on this day.
'Now is not the time for regrets.'
She pushed the sadness away, focusing instead on the Earthly sounds of seagulls calling to each other in the distance, and palm fronds rubbing against their neighbors as they tossed in the wind. When she opened her eyes, the sun was on the cusp of slipping away for another day, and she wished it would take the memories of Javan and her love for him with it, knowing it was a wish lost to being a possibility even as she made it. The light the sun had cast, that had lent itself to creating the vibrant colors she'd seen moments before, was now conceding to the dark blues and purples of dusk that appeared to be chasing the light into the world of gloom and void. There was still just enough light, though to make her eyes glint with the green of emeralds, and cause her long waves of dark hair to shine back against the ensuing shadows.
A bolt of lightning continuing to warn of the storm caught her attention, drawing it in the direction of not only it, but also a human who had been slow in leaving the openness of the beach where. The length of his stride told that he was aware of his vulnerability to the strands of electricity that seemed to now be ripping the sky apart almost constantly. Gabrielle's body tensed slightly as the man, in his mid twenties, began jogging toward her and smiled — looking at her a little longer than she was comfortable with.
'Am I doing a good job of looking normal?'
She felt a pang of worry grip her stomach as she wondered whether or not she was going to fit in here at all, or stand out like she did in her eternal home. The reality of being so different from her brethren was completely inescapable in Heaven, and she caught herself hoping on many occasions that things would be easier for her on Earth.
'Please just let me fit in . . . at least here.'
Another flash and crack of thunder made the man jump, pulling his hands quickly up to his ears to protect them from the sound that had already made its impact. He glanced quickly over his shoulder at the storm and then back at Gabrielle.
“That storm's going to be a real nasty one,” the man said as if he truly was concerned about her safety, a slight scowl reinforced the worry in his tone.
She just smiled and nodded. His concern, though kind, was wholly misplaced. But, he would have no idea of that — at least she hoped he wouldn’t suspect.
She looked around to see if she was drawing any other attention, but there really wasn’t anyone left who would wonder about her — they’d heeded nature’s threats. Even if they did notice the seventeen year-old standing at the water’s edge, she decided they probably wouldn’t take enough time to realize she was, somehow, different.
'They don’t notice the fantastical side of their world at all.'
The thought both relieved and disturbed her.
Gabrielle turned her attention back to the sunset as she once again tried to distract herself from her thoughts and recalled her day.
She’d spent the day under a much different sky, one full of sunlight and cotton clouds, as she enjoyed the added sensations and experiences her human senses allowed — senses she had no need of in her true form. She enjoyed being incarnated this time more than any other time before. It was the first time she’d been on Earth for more than a few minutes without drawing the unwanted, and dangerous, attention of every demon within a hundred miles. All thanks to the Aegis Veil.
While spending part of the day walking slowly in and out of the shops along the road running parallel to the beach, enjoying the protection the veil offered, she discovered the blissful taste of mint chocolate chip ice cream. She loved the way the cold slipped down her throat, but still didn't understand the reason it caused her to shiver and get little raised bumps on her tan skin that, to her relief, went away as quickly as they appeared. Regardless of why it happened, it was a nice change from the heat of day, and she looked forward to having another scoop before she made her way to her new home. She was glad she took the time to get familiar with her body before she began to meet the people who would become her neighbors — maybe even her friends.
The task ahead was going to be difficult. Humans weren't as easy for her to persuade anymore. If they were, there would be no reason to have come to Earth to live in a human body, at all.
She hoped she was doing the right thing, but being here was the only option she could think of to gain the insight she desperately needed, and she had fought relentlessly for this. It was vital for her to learn what compelled people to do the things they do, and she was relieved when her superior, Amaziah, told her it had been decided she could take on this task, even if it was for a shorter period of time than she wanted — even if it put her own life in danger.
It made little difference if she was one of the most powerful angels Yahuwah ever created if she couldn’t figure out how to make humans believe and have faith again. So many were relying on her success — from her home, as well as here on Earth. The battle that had been waged between Light and Darkness for thousands of years was being lost by her and her brethren. It was beginning to slip through their fingers at an astonishing rate. So fast, Gabrielle was concerned the decision to live here was one made too late.
This was all she could do, though.
This, and continuing to do her job making sure people receive the appropriate rewards, or punishments, for what they choose to do. Free will is a wonderful gift, but so many use theirs without a conscience now — and humanity’s lack of conscience was the biggest obstacle to winning the war.
Gabrielle breathed the warm, moist, sea air into her lungs, stretching them as far as she could and exhaled slowly. She needed to clear her mind of her concerns.
'Just concentrate on your goal.'
It was difficult to ease her tension, though. Her job had been affecting her mood more harshly every day. As much as she loved her position as the Angel of Karma, she’d like to not feel the hostility she now found herself experiencing most days — a nasty repercussion of having to deal with so much bad karma. Handing out a little more good karma compared to bad, instead of the other way around, would go a long way in making her less edgy.
Closing her eyes, she tried to only listen to the waves that were coming in at a progressively more rapid pace as the angry clouds grew closer.
'Soon, there won't be more than a heartbeat of time between each break of waves.'
Her focus on the sounds wasn't what soothed her troubled thoughts, though; it was the image of someone she'd seen on many occasions. She found she loved seeing his face pass into her mind’s eye whenever she had the vision of him lately. She loved it, and was frightened that she loved it at the same time. She didn’t know who he was — the young man with the blue eyes she wanted to retreat into — but, she did know the feelings she seemed to be having for this human were completely forbidden, and something she couldn’t act upon.
'I can’t have the love of a human any more than I can have it from any angel other than Javan and, unless I join the Fallen . . . and that will never happen.'
The human was hers, though. At least his image and the way it made her feel and no one knew it but her. Not even Amaziah — especially not Amaziah. He would be furious with her if he knew, and she didn’t need to give him another reason why she shouldn’t be doing this — he'd accumulated plenty of those. She was going to keep the vision of him to herself as long as she could and one day, he would end up in front of her in her reality instead of only in the recurring image. She would wait for that day. And, at least for now, he was hers and only hers.
'My little secret.'
All too soon, the vision ended, and so did the peace it always seemed to loan her for that moment, peace she so desperately needed. Gabrielle took another deep breath, but this one wasn’t voluntary, and she huffed out a sharp sigh.
Lightning weaved its white coils across the twilit sky, once again, and it was followed almost instantly by a crack of thunder so earsplitting it caused the earth to tremble.
“Is that all you’ve got?” she asked the storm defiantly, feeling the desire for a fight as she wished it really was a foe coming upon her instead of rain and wind, and then turned.
As she moved away from the horizon that had just swallowed the sun and its light completely and began walking toward her new life — a life that would be surrounded by the oppressive shadows of Darkness — she felt an intense foreboding stirring deep in her core. It was a feeling accompanying the Knowing that she prayed would not come to be.
There was a storm . . . the one that could bring her end that truly was of a far different sort, and it loomed on a horizon invisible to the humans it so greatly affected. But Gabrielle could see it. It was coming fast and true, and the rain it spills will be a mixture of the blood and tears of angels, the lightning from Divine weapons as they strike against each other, and the thunder will be from the screams of pain born from Yahuwah's angels and from those who had fallen.
She shivered, and as her body trembled she wanted to believe the chill was the result of the absence of the warm rays her flesh now missed, but she knew it was from the heaviness she had already sensed that accompanied the Fallen and the others who lived in Shadows . . . and from Darkness caused by far more than an absent sun.
©2012 Teal Haviland
***
Gabrielle’s Incarnation Scene
A bright flash of lightning and crack of thunder sent the few remaining humans scrambling to gather their belongings from the beach as they tried to beat the downpour. Some people had been so eager to get out of the storm’s path — one that seemed particularly angry — that they abandoned some of their things.
Gabrielle scanned the various discarded items — bottles of lotion, trash, scattered towels, a beach ball, and an umbrella that was now tumbling away as if it was trying to outrun the wind. Gabrielle mused that the gusts were trying to push the people, and even her, out of the way and to safety. The storm was of no concern to her. Nothing that belonged in the human world could harm her. It was the beings who didn't belong among humans who could make her wary, but there were few of those who caused her to ponder them or their threat, either.
Gabrielle turned her attention away from the umbrella's dance into the distance, and back in the direction of the water in front of her. The intensity of the surging waves was growing steadily, and she stood with her feet just within reach of the fingers of water. They seemed to stretch to tickle her toes; enticing her with each break of waves against the sand to come in and play for a while. The sun that had given its warmth throughout the day was setting just ahead of the storm, and it reflected against the liquid horizon of the Gulf of Mexico. The fiery sky caused shades of red, orange, and yellow to mingle on the surface of its stirring waters, while the winds ahead of the storm roused the fabric of her long black dress, making it to whip her legs as if trying to urge her to hurry — to move on and take shelter before the storm unleashed its rage.
As terrible as this storm threatened to be, this wasn’t the one that she was concerned with. It wasn't a storm of rain and wind and lightning that she was here to outwit — or that she would, in fact, be in danger of losing her life because of. Gabrielle closed her eyes and tried to push the thoughts out of her mind with other things.
The new thoughts that rushed in to replace them were no better, and she found the calm she had found in her surroundings earlier had waned, replaced by a familiar ache as her mind wandered to memories of Javan. She had been lonely since he'd fallen, and she'd been on this beach many years ago. Only that day, she hadn't been enjoying it alone . . . she had been with him.
It was a time before humans settled the now overpopulated Florida coastline. A time before she lost the only love in Heaven she could ever have, when she didn't have the empty space inside her she did now that is constant, and as loud to her, as it is silent to others. Many times she'd heard a human say, ‘It’s better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.’ She’d argue that if it was the kind of love one angel had for another of their kind that it’s better to have simply never loved. An angel who has lost their companion will forever grieve them as if it just happened, without any chance of having another in their life to ease the sorrow. It didn’t make a difference if that loss was due to death, or if they had been cast out of the eternal home, the result was the same.
This visit to the beach was under vastly different circumstances. Not only was she alone and Javan now one of the Fallen, she was on a mission.
She closed her eyes, sensing the last warmth the sun’s rays would offer her face and bare arms on this day.
'Now is not the time for regrets.'
She pushed the sadness away, focusing instead on the Earthly sounds of seagulls calling to each other in the distance, and palm fronds rubbing against their neighbors as they tossed in the wind. When she opened her eyes, the sun was on the cusp of slipping away for another day, and she wished it would take the memories of Javan and her love for him with it, knowing it was a wish lost to being a possibility even as she made it. The light the sun had cast, that had lent itself to creating the vibrant colors she'd seen moments before, was now conceding to the dark blues and purples of dusk that appeared to be chasing the light into the world of gloom and void. There was still just enough light, though to make her eyes glint with the green of emeralds, and cause her long waves of dark hair to shine back against the ensuing shadows.
A bolt of lightning continuing to warn of the storm caught her attention, drawing it in the direction of not only it, but also a human who had been slow in leaving the openness of the beach where. The length of his stride told that he was aware of his vulnerability to the strands of electricity that seemed to now be ripping the sky apart almost constantly. Gabrielle's body tensed slightly as the man, in his mid twenties, began jogging toward her and smiled — looking at her a little longer than she was comfortable with.
'Am I doing a good job of looking normal?'
She felt a pang of worry grip her stomach as she wondered whether or not she was going to fit in here at all, or stand out like she did in her eternal home. The reality of being so different from her brethren was completely inescapable in Heaven, and she caught herself hoping on many occasions that things would be easier for her on Earth.
'Please just let me fit in . . . at least here.'
Another flash and crack of thunder made the man jump, pulling his hands quickly up to his ears to protect them from the sound that had already made its impact. He glanced quickly over his shoulder at the storm and then back at Gabrielle.
“That storm's going to be a real nasty one,” the man said as if he truly was concerned about her safety, a slight scowl reinforced the worry in his tone.
She just smiled and nodded. His concern, though kind, was wholly misplaced. But, he would have no idea of that — at least she hoped he wouldn’t suspect.
She looked around to see if she was drawing any other attention, but there really wasn’t anyone left who would wonder about her — they’d heeded nature’s threats. Even if they did notice the seventeen year-old standing at the water’s edge, she decided they probably wouldn’t take enough time to realize she was, somehow, different.
'They don’t notice the fantastical side of their world at all.'
The thought both relieved and disturbed her.
Gabrielle turned her attention back to the sunset as she once again tried to distract herself from her thoughts and recalled her day.
She’d spent the day under a much different sky, one full of sunlight and cotton clouds, as she enjoyed the added sensations and experiences her human senses allowed — senses she had no need of in her true form. She enjoyed being incarnated this time more than any other time before. It was the first time she’d been on Earth for more than a few minutes without drawing the unwanted, and dangerous, attention of every demon within a hundred miles. All thanks to the Aegis Veil.
While spending part of the day walking slowly in and out of the shops along the road running parallel to the beach, enjoying the protection the veil offered, she discovered the blissful taste of mint chocolate chip ice cream. She loved the way the cold slipped down her throat, but still didn't understand the reason it caused her to shiver and get little raised bumps on her tan skin that, to her relief, went away as quickly as they appeared. Regardless of why it happened, it was a nice change from the heat of day, and she looked forward to having another scoop before she made her way to her new home. She was glad she took the time to get familiar with her body before she began to meet the people who would become her neighbors — maybe even her friends.
The task ahead was going to be difficult. Humans weren't as easy for her to persuade anymore. If they were, there would be no reason to have come to Earth to live in a human body, at all.
She hoped she was doing the right thing, but being here was the only option she could think of to gain the insight she desperately needed, and she had fought relentlessly for this. It was vital for her to learn what compelled people to do the things they do, and she was relieved when her superior, Amaziah, told her it had been decided she could take on this task, even if it was for a shorter period of time than she wanted — even if it put her own life in danger.
It made little difference if she was one of the most powerful angels Yahuwah ever created if she couldn’t figure out how to make humans believe and have faith again. So many were relying on her success — from her home, as well as here on Earth. The battle that had been waged between Light and Darkness for thousands of years was being lost by her and her brethren. It was beginning to slip through their fingers at an astonishing rate. So fast, Gabrielle was concerned the decision to live here was one made too late.
This was all she could do, though.
This, and continuing to do her job making sure people receive the appropriate rewards, or punishments, for what they choose to do. Free will is a wonderful gift, but so many use theirs without a conscience now — and humanity’s lack of conscience was the biggest obstacle to winning the war.
Gabrielle breathed the warm, moist, sea air into her lungs, stretching them as far as she could and exhaled slowly. She needed to clear her mind of her concerns.
'Just concentrate on your goal.'
It was difficult to ease her tension, though. Her job had been affecting her mood more harshly every day. As much as she loved her position as the Angel of Karma, she’d like to not feel the hostility she now found herself experiencing most days — a nasty repercussion of having to deal with so much bad karma. Handing out a little more good karma compared to bad, instead of the other way around, would go a long way in making her less edgy.
Closing her eyes, she tried to only listen to the waves that were coming in at a progressively more rapid pace as the angry clouds grew closer.
'Soon, there won't be more than a heartbeat of time between each break of waves.'
Her focus on the sounds wasn't what soothed her troubled thoughts, though; it was the image of someone she'd seen on many occasions. She found she loved seeing his face pass into her mind’s eye whenever she had the vision of him lately. She loved it, and was frightened that she loved it at the same time. She didn’t know who he was — the young man with the blue eyes she wanted to retreat into — but, she did know the feelings she seemed to be having for this human were completely forbidden, and something she couldn’t act upon.
'I can’t have the love of a human any more than I can have it from any angel other than Javan and, unless I join the Fallen . . . and that will never happen.'
The human was hers, though. At least his image and the way it made her feel and no one knew it but her. Not even Amaziah — especially not Amaziah. He would be furious with her if he knew, and she didn’t need to give him another reason why she shouldn’t be doing this — he'd accumulated plenty of those. She was going to keep the vision of him to herself as long as she could and one day, he would end up in front of her in her reality instead of only in the recurring image. She would wait for that day. And, at least for now, he was hers and only hers.
'My little secret.'
All too soon, the vision ended, and so did the peace it always seemed to loan her for that moment, peace she so desperately needed. Gabrielle took another deep breath, but this one wasn’t voluntary, and she huffed out a sharp sigh.
Lightning weaved its white coils across the twilit sky, once again, and it was followed almost instantly by a crack of thunder so earsplitting it caused the earth to tremble.
“Is that all you’ve got?” she asked the storm defiantly, feeling the desire for a fight as she wished it really was a foe coming upon her instead of rain and wind, and then turned.
As she moved away from the horizon that had just swallowed the sun and its light completely and began walking toward her new life — a life that would be surrounded by the oppressive shadows of Darkness — she felt an intense foreboding stirring deep in her core. It was a feeling accompanying the Knowing that she prayed would not come to be.
There was a storm . . . the one that could bring her end that truly was of a far different sort, and it loomed on a horizon invisible to the humans it so greatly affected. But Gabrielle could see it. It was coming fast and true, and the rain it spills will be a mixture of the blood and tears of angels, the lightning from Divine weapons as they strike against each other, and the thunder will be from the screams of pain born from Yahuwah's angels and from those who had fallen.
She shivered, and as her body trembled she wanted to believe the chill was the result of the absence of the warm rays her flesh now missed, but she knew it was from the heaviness she had already sensed that accompanied the Fallen and the others who lived in Shadows . . . and from Darkness caused by far more than an absent sun.
©2012 Teal Haviland
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